Labor unrest rising in China's 'new economy'

Chinese labor unrest extended its footprint last year as workforce tensions that have long beset the manufacturing and construction industries began to hit the fast-growing sectors on which Beijing has pinned its hopes for future growth. While the 2,663 strikes and protests recorded in 2016 by China Labour Bulletin marked a fall of 112 on the previous year, the total was still almost double that of 2014, with the spread to new sectors partly offsetting a drop in manufacturing unrest. According to the Financial Times, China’s labor supply is tightening as fewer young hands join the migrant workforce on which manufacturing and construction have long relied – driving up wages, prompting salary arrears and threatening older workers’ social insurance payments when employers close shop or move without warning.

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